so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro.

and welcome back to the floor of the new york stock exchange. it's time now for the closing countdown. it will go into the books today as the worst trading day of this new year that we're well off of the worst levels. you can see the dow jones industrial average's going to go down about 99, 100 points or so but certainly off of the worst levels of the day. jpmorgan earnings before the bell this morning, earnings were good. revenues were not. concerned about loan losses all

taking their toll. there's the bell. the "closing bell" continues. [ closing bell ringing ] it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? welcome to the "closing bell." i'm sue hera filling in for my colleague maria bartiromo. following at the close the big sell-off on wall street led by disappointing data on consumer sentiment and although we're off of our lows of the day. financial sector weighing on the markets following jpmorgan's fourth quarter earnings report, which showed the bank's experiencing rising loan losses. and oil prices falling, to close at $78 a barrel because of higher temperatures around the nation and a stronger dollar. so here's a look at how we seem to be finishing out the day on wall street. it could had been worse. the dow jones industrial average down 101 points on the trading session. the s&p down 12.24 and the nasdaq composite off about 28.

more on today's action lets rejoin scott wapner our "eye on the floor" at new york stock exchange. i thought we were going to get into a double-digit loss position but not quite. >> reporter: pulled off the worst levels of the day, sue, and point to a number of factors for the reason why the markets suffered the losses that it did today. jpmorgan results certainly playing a role there, weakness in financial stocks. dollar was higher today as well and commodities were lower. technology shares umay have thought were higher of what we heard from intel, not the case today. semiconductor stocks weak and hd all ads up to the loss that we did see today here on wall street. take a look at jpmorgan, because as i said, it did have it's earnings before the bell today and while it did beat from an earnings perspective revenues were lighter than the street was looking for, and certainly concerns over commercial and consumer credit losses taking their toll. not only on jpmorgan, but really across the whole financial space. you have the t.a.r.p. tax, if you will, certainly weighing on these stocks as well. take a look at some of these other names. bank of america a big lose or the name, down 3%. citigroup, capital one also

losing on the day, talking about charge-offs and how they are continuing to rise. i did mention off of the top, however how commodity stocks were weaker today. yes the dollar was higher. oil was lower. gold stocks were lower today. all of the subsequent stocks relating to commodities for the most part to the downside. you had energy names and metal names also to the downside today. chips, mostly lower. intel had blowout numbers. what can you say, gross margins hit a record there, but it was classic sell on the news. and intel stock yesterday hit a fresh new 52-week high as well. so that just lends itself to the reason why, perhaps, we saw some profit-taking across the technology space today. texas instruments, terradyne and micron, also to the downside. take a look at some of the fertilizer names as well. it was interesting day there, as cf terminated its offer for terra, cf rosa. and agrium for cf. potash, the stock finished looks

to be a fractional loser there. and office supply companies, one of the bright spots today officemax was upgraded by jpmorgan off of the open and a sizable crowd that the post off of the open this morning and it was a winner today. up by 7% as you see there. kellogg was high or the day as well as it was upgraded to a buy over at merrill. schlumberger giving about 2/3 of a percent although it was upgraded as well. the major indices did this week and a down weak for the dow. transports up about 1%. the the s&p 500 will go out with a loss. nasdaq taking it a little bit more negatively, certainly down by 1.2%. sue, have a great, long weekend. back to you. >> thank you, you too, scott. appreciate it. all right break news once again, more detail concerning kraft and a position taken in that particular company. let's go to scott cohn and talk about mr. acman's new move. >> another country heard from, sue and he is echoing what warren buffett said not too long ago. yeah we like the cadbury deal,

we like the company in principle but don't dilute the stock. big ackman bought a 2% stck in the company. he tells cnbc, "we think that the deal makes tremendous sense and kraft is a very cheap stock. we want them to issue as little stock as possible to get the deal done." you can see kraft's stock surging here and continue to trade after-hours, up about 1.5% on the session. so the sentiment seems to be building here. do the deal, but protect the stock. sue? >> two very influential money managers. i mean warren buffett certainly but mr. ackman has a habit of coming out on the right side on a variety of different trades so it'll be interesting to see if kraft -- or if kraft responses to that. no obligation to do so. scott, thank you very much. cadbury incidentally is down about a 0.1% right now. mike huckman's at the nasdaq. he's got more of what happened there today. hi, mike. >> reporter: hi, good afternoon, sue, and yeah the nasdaq ends the day and the week, actually,

down a little more than 1%. and that would equate to its worst week here in about 2 1/2 months and you can really point the finger right at intel to investors kind of counterintuitive reaction to the company's earnings. handily beat on the top and bottom line. but investors decided to take profits, not just in intel but whole chip sector for that matter. down 3.5%. applied materials, took a hit. there was so much downdraft here that not even with credit suisse raising, and i mean dramatically raising its earnings estimates for 2009 and for 2010, for apple didn't do anything for the stock. we also saw the weakness that was led by jpmorgan in the financials carry over to all of the regional banks that trade here at the nasdaq. but let's talk about the plus side. company called bare essentials, a cosmetics company. as you can see up 42% on the day because the big japanese

cosmetics company sheshado is taking it out for that premium $1.7 billion. staples got an upgrade by jpmorgan to buy so investors stocked up on some staples. not even an r.w. bair, amazon.com shares it could help. but finally -- got a pop in the middle of the day because the fda did not say no, at least not yet to approving its lung cancer pill for earlier use. you can follow me on twitter and a biopharma ceo and find out who that is on my blog. sue, over. >> you terrific, mike, thank you very much. take a look at today's action a little more closely. joining us with their take on where we may be heading when we come out of this long holiday weekend is alanç gayle, senior investment strategist with woodworth capital management. and the director of multistrategies. welcome to both of you, gebtelmen. >> thank you. >> start with you if i could, alan. because you like tech, you like

energy here but intel response is somewhat puzzling. is this simply a case of everybody was expecting something good and indeed that's exactly what they got? >> and i think that you can add to that is that after tech led in the fourth quarter and all of 2009 it's very possible that we're seeing some very beginning of the year rotation out of technology stocks. selling -- selling some of the big winners and kind of redeploying the money. so it's not -- it's not uncommon to see some rotation out of the winners early in the year. but i think that fundamentals for technology remain in place and we saw good margins and we saw good revenue growth. >> you want to see some sustainability though in some of these results, correct? >> well, we do and i think that's what the market is looking for right now. we're -- right now we're in the midst of what i would call a statistical recovery, but market is looking beyond that for sustainability and that's where

comments on forward guidance for earnings become really critical and some of those -- if the companies don't come through on that front, then i think they're going to be vulnerables to sell-offs. >> eric, where is the risk? is the risk to the upside after this juncture after a triple digit sell-off or to the downside? >> i think that it depends on the time horizon. for me personally i think that the trend is infathand the markets will finish the year up from here, i officially believe that. we could see a sell-off for weeks. not similar to the sell-offs in 2009, post the recovery period, beginning in march. so to me this is just normal market fare. >> all right, so where do you put money to work given that backdrop and with the expectation that perhaps what we're seeing today may carry over into next week or a little bit longer than that. >> well, i think you have to be cautious about taking on investment positions that carry greater risks and we would think about emerging markets as being somewhat risk nethis area for the short term but really

terrific long-term prospects for emerging markets. in the u.s. marketsry may have the same commentary. over the longer term, certainly it's a place where we expect leadership. so our funds are positioned in tech, in consumer discretionary, and in financials. even in spite of today's sell-off we think that smart money continues to be positioned that way. >> alan, you get final word. one of the dynamics today is the dollar and expected to be active in terms of a market dynamic next week given what's going on. are you net-net a çdollar, but dollar bear and what are the implication from the market. >> i would say near term i'm a dollar bull, and we've been shading our -- our allocation and the allocation strategy funds toward the u.s. stocks, particularly the large caps. but i will say longer term, i'm a long-term bear on the dollar. i think all of the concerns that have been mentioned time and time again, remain in place. and so longer term, you're going to want to get involved in the

foreign markets. and away from the dollar. >> all right, thank you, gentlemen. enjoy your long weekend. breaking news once again, this time concerning the galleon insider trading case and one particular gentleman in that. scott cohn what do you got. >> reporter: couple of gentleman in that, sue. and the walls may be closing in here on raj rajaratnam of the galleon group because another plea agreement is in the work according to documents filed just this afternoon. mark kurland who is with new castellet partners. hedge fund consultant. and daniel with that firm is indicted in this case but mark kurland is finalizing a plea agreement with prosecutors according to a document filed by prosecutors today and robert moffett former executive with ibm is also working on a plea agreement. both men have a deadline of today or the government had a deadline today to get an indictment against those two men. that's been extended now as deals are worked out.

again mark kurland, potentially a key witness in the galleon case is about to turn here. sue. >> yeah, it doesn't sound that's not good news for mr. raj rajaratnam, i can never say his name but you know who i mean. >> mr. raj rajaratnam. >> appreciate it. the big banks, they're being accused being tone deaf to america's anger over record pay packages, the actual numbers might surprise you. coming up why banks may not be deaf to criticism as some people think. and a bit later he's one of the richest men in the world and he is riding the wave south of border. just ahead an interview with billionaire carlos slim about his profit run in mexico and where else he's seeing opportunity right now. this is not pay the doctor insurance. this is not major medical insurance. this is affordable-we-pay-cash -directly-to-you- fast-when-you're-sick -or-hurt-insurance.

if all you know about us is... aflac! ...then you don't know quack. to find out all the ways aflac's got you covered, visit knowquack.com what are you doing...? calling chase sapphire, seeing if we have enough points to stay longer. now? you don't have enough time... and you have to push all those buttons... no buttons, someone answers every time. yeah, right... bet you a massage... yeah, ok. hi, julie... i have a question about my points. hi, what button do i press for a massage? hello? new chase sapphire... you call. we answer. no waiting. just press right here... go to chase.com/sapphire. chase what matters.

the -- a report says financial firms will pay record levels of compensation this year and it is something that many in washington, as you know, are not happy about. mary thompson has more on that story for us. hi, mary. >> reporter: you know, sue, i think had should be one of the strongest arguments for our

system to wind down big financial institution because if you had that system no need for taxpayer support and we'd be hearing fewer complaints about what wall street is dishing out this year and they're dishing out a lot. in fact, manyç in washington fd distasteful. >> i think the responsibility of wall street's, towards respond, particularly to the bonus, they know how annoying that is to the american people. they didn't care. >> reporter: "the wall street journal" analysis of revenue forecast for 38 top financial firms estimates total pay will increase in 2009. wall street's higher payouts link to higher profits. profits, critics say, largely made possible because of the taxpayer bailout. but at jpmorgan where net income more than doubled last year it repaid t.a.r.p. money. the bank maintains it didn't need. and is paying employees in its investment bank in average of $378,599, about $100,000 more than last year.

executive recruiter bill lagory says the compensation is deserved. >> the people that have remained on board and actually bringing back this city industry and finding ways in which they can return money back to shareholders and as well to the customers of these institutions that they're dealing with should be rewarded for what they're doing. >> reporter: his other point the street's paid for performance culture demands higher compensation but try telling that to a taxpayer who owns a chunk of citigroup. on track to lose $8 billion in '09, bonuses dolled out. citi will argue it needs to pay competitively to stay competitive but you have to wonder if that makes everyone on wall street a winner even if there those companies lose or why it makes them a loser if their companies lose. >> a better point and what everyone's asking, what we're going to talk about. thank you very much, mary. so basically, is this rebound in bank revenues and bonuses a signal of greed on the rise or a return to help for a battered industry? get the thoughts from bob, he's a partner at jones day and

andrew stole theman the partner at the stoletman law offices. gentleman, welcome. >> thank you. >> bob, you know, given the numbers and the situation that we find ourselves in, do you understand why some people on main street and in washington might find these figures a little distasteful? >> well, i can understand people raising questions and we've been through a very difficult time but we've got to stand back from this. what's wrong with saying that maybe the bailout was a good idea and it worked? the fact is the dow jones is up 42% year over year. is it surprising that traders and investment bankers' compensation would go up? in fact as a percentage of their revenue, compensation went down quite a lot this year, even though, when you look at these numbers on an absolute sense, somebody might complain about them. but the question is, what's the principle here? for two decades we've been struggliow to get paid for performance. we had a great performance.

now, put aside for the question of whether or not the government deserves a part of that for having stepped in and, quote, bailed out, unquote wall street. but there was a good performance, so it's not about that link -- the delinking that anymore. it's not about the risk issue. we're just complaining about, it's too much. >> all right, andrew, do you agree with that, and also what about this new tax that is being leveed or may be leveed on some the banks? but are there critics out there who say it's not being leveed equally. some of the large insurance firms, fannie and freddie are not included in that. and so it really does look like a revenge tax on wall street. that, if you want to recoup the money, as the administration says it does, then tax fannie and freddie and aig and some of those other firms. >> well, look, the problem i have is that it's no longer paid for performance. because when wall street doesn't do well, they still get their bonuses and why are we paying these outlandish bonuses now when wall street has behaved itself for all of one year?

yes, there needs to be a tax. because it looks like about $100 billion in the hole for bailing out wall street and the biggest firms that were the biggest problems they should be the one who pay the disproportionate, some of that amount. >> what do you think, bob. >> what do you mean we haven't performance? >> for one year! >> everybody's 401(k)s were great. we're all acting like these are just fungible things. it isn't marble buildings and big vaults and all of that stuff. these are people. >> that's the problem. >> that's what drives this. >> when you take t.a.r.p. money, when you take taxpayer money you forfeit the ability to pay yourself outlandish bonuses one year off melt down the world wide economy. >> we haven't seen that, and "the wall street journal" article has nothing to do with senior management. it's about keeping the people in the banks that are needed to produce the profits. >> senior management caused the problems. >> no, no. but we're not talking about senior management right now. all these number are abstract numbers about what -- the overall percentage of revenues

and everything else is going to be paid in bonuses. the fact of the matter is, like it or not, simon crowell makes $36 million for being a judge, i guess. i'm not sure what he is. >> curmudgeon. >> a huge difference. >> i get it and that's the rationale for these special tax but instead of why don't we just say, look, we spent a lot of money. it was $100 million, not $700. yes, goldman and jpmorgan paid it back and the taxpayers made a lot of money on it and we're going to ask you to contribute. >> andrew -- >> but don't blame -- don't blame compensation for all of this got nothing to do with çi >> very quickly though, andrew. the question that i put to you earlier about the tax, if it indeed does get passed, being leveed unfairly. a lot of people who think that the automakers who took -- who got a bailout, aig, fannie and freddie, who were behind, many

believe, the big run-up in the housing market, that they should be included under that, and that's why the tax looks like it's leveed strictly at wall street. what do you say to those people? >> i think that is some fair criticism, at least with respect to aig, fannie and freddie but at least take a look at general motors, general motors wasn't the problem. general motors wasn't the entire the globe world wide economy almost melted down so i do think that some the criticism is fair but try to rope in gm i think that's unfair. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. to the other story following so closely the devastation in haiti. it continues and international aid continues to pour in at this hour, so coming up, we have the latest developments in the wake of the worst earthquake there in more than two centuries. and a bit later we break down how businesses here at home are still adding to the relief efforts as well. trying to make a difference there. the oil crisis is over. i don't think so. our economy is bleeding billions for foreign oil...

importing nearly 70% - much of it from countries that don't like us. that's billions we should use to create american jobs. we have plenty of american natural gas, to power our trucks and bus fleets. it's cheaper, cleaner, abundant, and it's ours. we've had our wake up call. it's time to act. ] welcome to the now network, population 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new lexus gx. ♪

it has the agility to avoid the unexpected... ♪ ...the power to take on any mission, and the space to accommodate precious cargo, because every great action hero needs a vehicle. ♪

well, let's hope it was a very busy trading day at deutsche bank, because, although it probably looks like an ordinary day there, it is anything but. the investment bank says it will donate all of today's net equity trading commissions to earthquake relief efforts in haiti and a number of other wall street's firms are also contributing. let's go to nbc's news, michelle

kaczynski for the latest on the still developing situation in haiti. michelle? >> reporter: hi. it's a little bit noisy right here. we just saw two helicopters take off. one military helicopter now landing. they've been delivering supplies and also just arriving here to haiti and the u.s. has announced that by monday 9,000 to 10,000 members of the u.s. military will be here to help these people and help the city with badly and desperatedly needed supplies. most needed right now are tent, obviously food, water, medical applieses and also medical personnel. a shortage of those. in fact when you hear the numbers involved in the devastation here, 3 million haitians affected by this massive earthquake. some 30% of all buildings in the capital badly damaged. 40,000 to 50,000 possibly dead. and then you hear how many search-and-rescue teams are on the ground right now.

24 of them. that just seems so minuscule compared to the scope of the devastation here. but obviously people are doing the best they can. it's not by lack of desire of aid organizations and foreign militaries getting to this country. there have been logistical problems. obviously major infrastructure problems. and we saw some of that today just trying to drive here from the dominican republic into haiti. it took ten hours, which we expected. the road was more possible than we thought it would be. there)weren't physical obstructions, but the crush of people in both vehicles and just on foot along the roads was amazing. we were surprised to see even so far outside the capital, you know, eight hours away, we're seeing people walking the streeting, we saw destruction there and people saying they were hungry and thirsty and walking around with empty bottles looking for water. sue? >> michelle, thank you very much, trying to stay safe and of course one of the other worries now is civil unrest and disease

and those are, unfortunately, perhaps, the next to follow. we're going to follow this situation and talk next about whether financial aid that is pouring in from around the globe might help haiti recover from this tragedy and turn around its nation's troubled economy. here's a look at some of today's winners and losers. >> reporter: ces in the books and big-time tech is coming to your car. check out an app store-like interface. temperature entertainment options and communications. fleers nav-tv puts a forward-looking infrared image on a dashboard screen that keeps an electronic eye on your

surroundings and picks up pedestrians so you don't hit them. working with microsoft on the uvo, your voice, technology that reads your incoming e-mails and gives you canned response options so you're not distracted. and here's a screen that won't fit into your car, 152 gorgeous inch frespanasonic. 12 feet, 4,000 pixels across, hm, yummy. now with the screen like that i could be life-sunrise your living room. that's your can the tech check "

as the world continues to respond to the tajdy in haiti, just moments ago, secretary of state hillary clinton said that she and the u.s. aid chief who is trying to coordinate the efforts of the u.s. will leave to go to haiti on saturday and try to lend some more aid to that stricken nation. meantime, the u.s. government says it has now lifted 500 evacuees out of haiti into the united states. and in washington, house members are trying to make donations to

the relief effort tax deductible. here's just some of the latest efforts as rescuers continue to work around the clock in the areas hardest hit by that earthquake. it is a tragedy made worse by ç haiti's economic situation. the country is the western hemisphere's poorest. 80% live under the poverty line. so what are the prospects for an economic recovery there? we get more from our cnbc contributor, greg is the chief political strategist with patomic research group. tony fratto is the managing director at hamilton place strategies, a former white house deputy press secretary. gentlemen, it's good to see you. >> you bet. >> tony, i will start with you. >> sure. >> because you've been to haiti a number of times and one of the times is when you were working in a government capacity there. >> yeah. >> from what you've seen, obviously this is a trajdefer enormous proportions but as the aid comes in, is there, perhaps, an opportunity for the nation to restructure in a viable way economically? >> i think in is, sue. it is interesting i was

listening to michelle's report earlier and she talks about going from the dominican republic to haiti. i once took a helicopter ride from center domingo to port-au-prince and striking difference in economic development between haiti and santo domingo and the dominican republic and although they okpite same island so you than the potential is there for haiti. they've had you know political instability for a number of decades. the lack of investment in infrastructure and people. but that has turned around a bit in recent years. and so i think i share some of the optimism that president clinton expressed in terms of the ability for donors to go in and make real investments that pay off for the haitian people. >> and do you agree, greg? i mean, one would hope that every obstacle becomes an opportunity, but you know when you look at devastation there, it is hard to see. >> it's really striking, sue, in a city that's so bitterly partisan to see both parties in agreement that that has to be a

very compassionate country. this country can't just be measured on gdp growth or military strength. i think it's quite a sight for the rest the world to see how generous and compassionate we could be and a cynic like myself has to be impressed by both parties coming together on this. >> with secretary clinton going to haiti on saturday, is there -- what role should the united states, or could the united states play in helping the country's restructure politically and economically, or can the united states help in that? >> i think actually, only the united states can really do that. this is such a massive effort. obviously on the front end here, this is a humanitarian effort on a huge scale. and the coordination effort for that -- for humanitarian assistance will have to be led by the united states and the u.s. military as i think secretary clinton and i know that the obama administration is focused on. long term for economic development they will have to play the same role. i don't believe that?xmoney, yo

know, that financial systems, and certainly we should you know try to get as much as we can, and i know that the haitians will be grateful for all of the financial assistance they get, but i don't think that will be the key. i think the key will be coordinating partnerships, both among the donors and with the haitian government. and i know that the people in the obama administration are trying to lead that coordinationest and they're going to have to do it. that's the only way that the funding will be spent effectively. >> and, greg, how does the administration foster that, though? because haiti has not been a nation that has fosterred relationships easily and grown those relationships. >> there had been glimmers of hope as i know tony knows in the last four, five years and president clinton's talked about. there had been glimmers of hope that they were starting to turn things around and things like free trade deals, there will be other none monetary incentives that we can offer them. at the same time the amount of money that we're talking about

the $100, $do 00 billion another story in the news this week, that's a rounding error for gold. $do 00, $300 billion in haiti in today's terms is a fairly small amount of money. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. we appreciate. >> thank you, sue. >> fingers crossed for haiti. okay, let's take a break and then warren buffett has played a role, as you know, in the ongoing fight, the takeover fight between kraft and cadbury. last hour another big name investor got involved. the latest on this still developing story is straight ahead. plus, it's a high-stakes' game of chicken worth billions. is china starting to blink? we dig deeper into the standoff between google and china and whether or not it's going to lead to a black eye for the nation, for google or for both. o right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro.

continuing developments in the breaking news that we brought you last hour. a very well-known investor gets involved in the kraft/cadbury fight with words and more importantly, some money. scott cohn is tracking this developing story. and it is not mr. buffett this time. >> no it's not but i mentioned he's watching this with great interest. it is bill ackman and his money more important than his words that the point. a 2% stake that he's bought in kraft and he says that he wants

the cadbury deal to go through but he wants it to be done with more cash and less stock. in a sense, it echoes what warren buffett said a couple of weeks ago, and although he was perhaps stronger in his criticism of the deal. the whole issue whether kraft was going to have to issue more stock and of course dilute the shares. bill ackman says "we think that the deal makes tremendous sense. kraft is a very cheap stock. we want them to opt little stock to get the deal done." you can see how kraft is reacting to that and perhaps with the idea that this was going to happen. up about 1.5% for the day. we know that cadbury shares have gone up as well but a question whether or not they can get that deal done. there is cadbury, which surged as that news broke in the last hour of trading here in the u.s. so, interesting stuff here. the plotç really thickens. >> yeah, and apparently mr. ackman had a stake in cadbury but he sold that in 2008 so he's not unfamiliar with this particular field of business. so fascinating.

scott, thank you very much. so you heard it, mr. ackman likes kraft and cadbury tie-ups so how does his involvement change any potential deal? more on the story now with tim ramsey, he's vice president and coo research analyst with d.a. davidson and company. tim, nice to you have here. >> thank you, sue. >> what do you think of mr. ackman's stakes or more importantly, his actions. >> we subscribe to the view that kraft is a cheap stock. we have a rated buy so we agree on that. not so fond of the deal however. >> why not? >> well, kraft's record of doing m&a, let alone transformative m&a, it is pretty poor. they have consistently destroyed value for shareholders in almost every deal they've done and this is a pretty big one. >> the idea of not diluting the stock is kind of a no-brainer, but what do you think about a price, if they can protect the stock as ackman and clearly

buffett want to do. what makes sense here? >> well, it's a real tightrope that they have to walk, because cadbury seems to suggest that the deal is dod arrival at the current price. and yet, i think warren buffett maybe carries a slightly bigger stick in saying you know don't raise your bid. so we expected to play out you know just status quo and you know perhaps that ends up with a deal but i really don't think so. >> and you have a buy rating on the stock. what kind a price target have you set for it. >> we actually raised our price target to $35. just earlier this week when they raised guidance, although we were already at the -- >> does mr. ackman's involvement change that target? >> i don't continuing does change the target. that will remain our target. but you know, certainly i think it lends credence to the idea that kraft is an undervalued equity. >> how do you read the difference between -- and you touched on this -- between what mr. buffett was saying a couple of weeks and what mr. ackman is

saying. do you think that buffett can be brought arngd here if it stays roughly around this price? >> well, buffett's made two statements about deal. one was, the deal is a full price. and the other one that you're familiar with, where they pointed out the, you know, the kind of follying of buyback stock at $33 and then issuing stock at $28 or $29. i think that he's come down pretty hard against this deal, and certainly against overpaying for this deal. >> but that's what he's supposed to do, right? the acquirer should be saying it, it's just a negotiating standpoint at this point, it's a full price. is that it? or, i mean, andç it is very ra for buffett to be this vocal about any sort of a deal with a company that he just has a stake in. >> well, there's conspiracy theories out there that he and -- sat down and worked out this you know script perfectly together. i kind of take the point of view

that you know with friends like the person who wrote that press release berkshire hathaway you don't need enemies. >> what happens if it goes through, to the price of the stock and more importantly, how do you think that the fit will be for the two companies? >> well, i think, you know, a price right around the current bid or a slight premium to the current bid is factored into the stock price right now. it shouldn't surprise anyone. the stock may actually go up on that. but of course what mr. buffett points out, it's a blank check. we don't know what the ultimate, you know, outcome is going to be. and we want to discourage them from getting really, really very aggressive here. >> if kraft is able to pull it off from a management standpoint and you raise those issues early on, if say they can do it, does kraft need cadbury? >> no. i don't think that kraft needs cadbury. you know the skill argument's been made but they lack skill to

one other company in the world and that's nestle and scale's never been an advantage for kraft so certainly confectionary's an attractive business. but so is, you know, milkbone dog biscuits ready to eat cereals or altoids in the sort of alumni club for kraft. >> tim ramey, sorry. sorry i mispronounced your way in. appreciate you coming by. a high-stakes' game of chicken worth billions of dollars and is china starting to blink up a bit? dig deeper between the standoff between google and china and whether or not it may lead to a black eye for the nation or for google. traders are always hungry for ideas. trading is all about strategy. and strategy... is all about information. heat mapping shows me where the money's moving. twenty five hundred stocks... one quick look. that's where the action is. plus, this amazing gadget... it's called the telephone. i can call td ameritrade anytime and talk trades, strategy... anything. td ameritrade. built by traders, for traders.

this is what i need. announcer: trade commission free for 30 days, plus get 100 dollars cash, when you open an account.

it's a situation that's kind of reached a standoff at this point. google is considering withdrawing its business in china, after claiming the company's websites were hacked and sensored. meanwhile the u.s. government remains silent on that issue. will either side blink and what does it mean between trade relations between the u.s. and china?

ben shactner. and steve he's the senior fellow at the center for strategic and international studies. steve, i'm going to start with you. given china's track record, shouldn't google have expected this sort of action to a certain extent? i mean, doing business in china, especially when it deals with the internet, has been dicey to say the least from the very beginning. >> well, i don't think it's unexpected. i think that people who have looked at theç this in depth, t something that's very surprising. what's surprising is for so long it's kind of percolated below the surfaceane both u.s. and china have diplomatically put a lid on this and haven't found a way to deal with it and a company speaking out and putting this under a spotlight it could change the dynamics both for the countries and the relationship. >> it puts the united states government in a difficult position, does it not though? some people may think that this may tried trade war, steve. >> that's exactly right and i think that the silence on the u.s. government's part, it shows that they're taking this very seriously and thinking about it,

but it also shows we haven't found a way to deal with it. in china, we've got a situation that we've never faced before. you've got a competitor that's lot of government involvement in the business sectors that makes it hard to kind of decide where that's going. they have a lot of leverage over us. they buy a lot of our debt. we're interconnected. it's a tricky situation to deal with. >> ben, from a business standpoint, does google have to be in china? from a shareholder's standpoint do they have to be in china in. >> it would be beneficial to be in china. relatively meaningless as far as how much revenue google draws from china. the long-term potential not only with the internet and google.com search but other initiatives down the road. >> what about the other companies like yahoo! trying to break into that market in a meaningful way? what google does have implications for them as well, does it not?

>> it's true. on the internet side of the world, most western companies have not succeeded on their own in china. most have moved on to work with native companies. yahoo! at this point is a passive investor. they've withdrawn their own internal operations and have essentially partnered with feet on the ground in china. i don't think it will impact yahoo! specifically but other companies will certainly think this will raise red flags and highlights the issues of how difficult it is to work in that type of political environment. >> what do you think china will do? some people say they're going to blink, others say they don't need to do anything. >> they're hoping it will go away. dealing with it through their commerce department they're trying to make this seem as a commercial issue or routine issue. i would like to step away from it and let it die down. the ball is really in the united states' court to see how it's going to react and how much it's going to highlight this issue. they're in a tricky situation. we don't have a lot of leverage

right now. we don't have a proactive trade agenda. you're seeing disputes percolate because we don't have something forward looking dealing with china. >> would the united states back off some of those disputes or would china? will there be aç negotiation o the trade front that way in. >> both want to fipnd a way out of this, back out of it and smooth it over. we haven't found a way to deal with these issues. you see this in the currency manipulation by china, many ipr theft. we've made nice and had diplomatic talks about cooperation, but in the hard issues we really haven't found solutions. >> ben, what about the stock? google stock at this point. does whether or not this china situation get resolved have an impact on the stock if you're a shareholder? how big of a component should this particular story be in your decision on whether or not to buy or hold the stock? >> well, it does certainly impact the company and, again, impacts what the future cash

flows may be from china. all week long we've been talking with investors wondering how does this impact the company? in the near term it's not meaningful. down the road what will this mean with their relations with the chinese government and impact how they do business there? >> gentlemen, thank you very much. we appreciate it. let's head to the nasdaq market site. melissa lee with a preview of what's coming up on "fast money." big show coming up. we'll talk about the earnings slaughter. after math after the jp morgan and intel report earnings. next week's big earnings. fast action when fast money meets option session. a stock strategy for ebay earnings out next week. low volatility gets you down? we have a strategy that can help you make money while you're wait for your stocks to move. all that and more on "fast money." pack your bags. we're going to mexico city.

a first man look at how one of the world's richest men is finding opportunities south of the border. carlos slim is cashing in. find out how when we come back. boss: hey, those gecko ringtones you put on our website are wonderful. people love 'em! gecko: yeah, thank you sir. turned out nice. boss: got another one for you. anncr: at geico.com, it's easy to get a free rate quote, manage your policy, make payments or even file a claim! boss: now that's a ringtone. gecko: uh yeah...it's interesting.... certainly not the worst ringtone i've ever heard... ♪ ringtone lyrics: a-ringedy- ding-ding-dingy-dong, ringedy-dong-ding-ding... ♪ gecko (to himself): yeah, that might be the worst.

anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

congressman barney frank

clarifying comments he made yesterday on cnbc in which he said citibank had not repaid t.a.r.p. funds. he clarifies by saying indeed they retired $20 billion of the money but that, and he was unclear or not sufficiently clear on this, the government continues to own citigroup common stock and warrants. he says i should have stated that more accurately. that from barney frank referring to comments on cnbc yesterday. >> thank you very much, ty. one of the richest men making serious money in mexico. he told our michelle caruso cabrera how hees doing. >> reporter: carlos swim worth $59 billion is spending billions on infrastructure fronts as well. he has a 10 million square foot development that's going to have everything from high end retail to condos. he says now because of the recession is a perfect time to put all cash he